


Your Time Has Come (A 13th Doctor Series)

by ottotto



Category: Doctor Who, Doctor Who & Related Fandoms, Doctor Who (1963), Doctor Who (2005), Doctor Who RPF
Genre: Entire New Storyline, Series 11 Re-Write, Some Romance, jodie whittaker - Freeform, some sad times
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-12-22
Updated: 2018-12-29
Packaged: 2019-09-24 21:56:15
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 16
Words: 14,833
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17108828
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ottotto/pseuds/ottotto
Summary: After losing so many friends and loved ones, the Doctor is tired... but she is still the Doctor. She has a decision to make. A decision that will define her legacy and will burn throughout the universe.[A Series 11 Replacement Storyline]





	1. Table of Contents

Chapter 1: **_Table of Contents_**  

Chapters 2-6: **_The Doctor's Wonderland_** ([jump](https://archiveofourown.org/works/17108828/chapters/40286141#workskin) to the beginning)

Chapters 7-9: _**Love on a Mountain Top**_ ([jump](https://archiveofourown.org/works/17108828/chapters/40306511#workskin) to the beginning)

Chapters 10-11: **_Cyberlife_** ([jump](https://archiveofourown.org/works/17108828/chapters/40416347) to the beginning)

Chapters 12-16: **_Dawn of the Weeping Angels_** ([jump](https://archiveofourown.org/works/17108828/chapters/40475192) to the beginning)

Chapters 17-21: **_Christmas (feat. Eleventh Doctor and River Song and the Bird Box Monster)_**

Chapters 22-26: _**Fly Away**_

Chapters 27-31: _**A Mother's Song (feat. Amelia Pond)**_

Chapters 32-37: ** _I am the Doctor_**

Chapters 38-42: ** _Afterwards_**

 

These stories are set directly after Peter Capaldi's regeneration into Jodie Whittaker's 13th Doctor. In place of Series 11, not before or after it.

 

**Notes**

  * Each set of chapters listed above are their own unique _episode, but there is an overall story arc encompassing all stories._
  * All Doctor Who characters are owned by the BBC. 
  * Chapter numbers are subject to change.
  * Any major changes made to the stories after publishing will be noted here.
  * This page was last updated December 29, 2018.




	2. The Doctor’s Wonderland: The Green Neon Sign

Small towns are populated with people who either never wanted to live in a city, never moved out of their small town, lived in a city and then moved to the small town because of their failures, or enjoy living in the middle of nowhere with nothing to do all the time. Regardless, on a pier in a medium sized town, fried food stands stuffed the mouths of unconcerned children with capitalistic delights. 

Between two corn dog stands, hiding in the shadows of the universe, a slim gentleman dressed in all black sat below his booth. From his perspective, he was alone. The world was empty. He sat alone with his thoughts for days on end. Sometimes, people would stop by and sit with him, but they would always leave. 

From the outside world’s perspective the man in all black didn’t exist. People would walk by the booth, and wouldn’t see it. If you had them stand in front of it, for years, and then ask them what they were looking at, they would tell you, ‘ _Absolutely Nothing!_ ’

From his head to his feet, the man in the shadows of the universe was covered in black. A black suit with black pants and a black tie. He wore a black hat and black gloves. He had a nametag, pinned to his black suit. _Mr. Carroll_ was smeared across it in poorly written black sharpie.

The booth’s facade was quant. Just the neon sign, and the small table underneath where Mr. Carroll sat. The name on the neon sign read, ‘ _Carroll and Co._ ’. People didn’t see the booth, and barely anyone that walked past the booth was seen by Mr. Carroll. If existence relied on the attention of every passer-by then this establishment would be deemed to have never existed. But, thankfully, things that are barely observed, still exist, just barely, but they do.

The purpose of life in the darkness? To Mr. Carroll, it was the only way to live. He lived to live another day. His purpose was to exist, and existing was his purpose.

Every so often, on this pier, an individual would just disappear. One second they would be walking, minding their own business, and the next moment, they would be gone. Well, it wasn’t coincidence that individuals who peered out of the corner of their eye and saw the great bright green neon sign labeled ‘ _Carroll and Co._ ’ were the very same who would vanish out of existence, lost to the world forever. No, it was definitely not a coincidence. 

Lucy, was the first person to disappear on this pier. Alone at midnight  on the December 21st, 1950, her dark red hair frizzled and blew in the wind. She had pale broken skin and mascara ran down her face. Her stride was in one direction, but she was constantly checking all the others, seeking a more interesting direction to walk in.

Her eyes drifted right over the booth at first but then circled back around. They circled back and read the great bright green neon sign with the name ‘ _Carroll and Co_ .’ which she mouthed to herself. As soon as she noticed it, her existence from the real world was no more. Her physical presence was non-existent. The sign didn’t frighten her, but the man dressed in all black, who sat underneath the sign did. All other life in the universe was removed from sight. The world around her, became smokey black, all except for that bright green neon sign titled, ‘ _Carroll and Co._ ’.

The sounds of waves crashing against the shore had ended, and the creeks in the piers board were replaced with silence. So, as one does, she walked in the direction of the light like a moth drawn to the fiery pits of hell.


	3. The Doctor's Wonderland: Buffalo-Caracas

Her body was positioned such that autopilot was taking her toward the man dressed in black under the green neon sign. She strolled up dragging her left foot and sat down in the seat across from the man. “Are you expecting company?” Lucy asked awkwardly.

‘Should I be?’ Mr. Carroll replied. His voice was shrill and his demeanor was shriller. As if reading words written in monospace font, he began speaking, ‘Those who wish to see, see. And, those who wish blindness, are blind. This is no trickery or illusion. This world is your decision my dear. Do you not see?’

‘Umm,’ Lucy began, unsure what he was saying with respect to anything, ‘Yeah! Sure... I guess? Well… Not really...’

‘Beautiful, so, if I may, I would like to show you what you came here to see!’ Mr. Carroll said excitedly reaching his hand out for Lucy to hold.

‘Well, that’s odd, because I didn’t come here for anythi-’, as Lucy touched his hand, her body disappeared from existence a second time.

Mr. Carroll remained seated. He remained sitting exactly where he always sat, where he will always sit, where he will never stop sitting. Mr. Carroll was very tired of sitting, he had been sitting in that seat for longer than he could remember, but the alternative was simply horrifying, because if he wasn’t to sit, he was to stand, and if he stood, who knows when he would stop. He assumed then, to sit forever would be a better alternative to standing forever.

But, he had always dreamed of laying forever, but there wasn’t a bed or a couch in sight. He dreamed of laying forever, but to lay forever, first he must stand, possibly forever, and then if he were to stand forever, he may never make it to lay forever, for who knows if a bed or a couch even existed and he was actually quite comfortable sitting.

Regardless, all of this went around in his _brain_ leading to the decision to stay sitting and to always stay sitting. And to never stop sitting.

* * *

  _Sometimes thoughts would get into his head, thoughts he could not expel. Thoughts that would take over his consciousness, and cause him to consistently think the same thought over and over again. You know those thoughts, that people have that they can’t stop thinking about. Like a question on an exam, or an off hand comment, or a lie you told. On a small scale, like this Mr. Carroll was like any other human being, But, he seemed so completely stuck on those small things, that he could never get past them. He didn’t worry about the big things, because the big things would only come about if the small things happened._

_And, he was too busy worrying about all of those small things to ever think about a big thing. Big things that he never thought about like having children, or traveling, or finding love. Mr. Carroll had never thought about finding love, because to find love, he would have to stand, and we’ve already been through what it would take to get Mr. Carroll to stand. And thus, stuck forever, in perpetual sitting was Mr. Carroll. Destined to never find love, just sit._

* * *

 Once in awhile he would recall his _Creator_ , the man who had told him to stay sitting in the chair, and capture the minds of those who stepped into his world. Mr. Carroll could tell the Creator was well traveled by the tetheredness of his suit, but Mr. Carroll never recalled going anywhere himself. The only life he had known was sitting in that chair.

While Mr. Carroll remained in his seat, reality outside his bubble continued to wage wars, cure diseases, procreate and evolve.

Over the years more and more people would go _missing_. No one seemed to notice or care. When people went missing, they simply stopped existing in the world, and everyone else simply forgot they had ever existed in the first place.

No one seemed to care, no one except one lord of time. She didn’t really go out of her way to care; moreso, she just happened to be in the neighborhood.

‘Not Awesome! No no noo, the exact opposite of awesome!’ The Doctor screamed falling from the sky. She knew it was going to hurt, but was looking forward to a softer landing than normal. Water vs. Land, she’d take soaking wet anyday. Her crash into the water looked as if a meteor had struck, and the waves she created had pushed everyone off of the beach and onto shore. She washed up a few minutes later, coughing up water back onto the beach. ‘And stay out!’ she yelled at the water.

She walked her way, up the beach and onto the pier in the middle of the day. She had stolen a towel from someone who had left the beach when the waves had come in, and she was using it to dry off on the pier, when right in front of her eyes, someone vanished. ‘Wo! I must have really hit that head of mine.’ Then another individual not 10 seconds later, walked through the exact same spot the previous individual had and disappeared. The man who disappeared was holding the hand of what seemed to be his wife.

‘Excuse me. Oh,’ the Doctor went to grab the hand of the woman just lost a hand to hold, but instead found herself feeling her adam’s apple, ‘Oh that’s quite weird… Buffalo… Caracas… Fo ho no mo so ho mo co...’ The woman who had last the hand to hold was starting to walk away, ‘Oi! Who were you just walking with?’

‘What do you mean? I wasn’t walking with anyone?’ the lady responded, turning around. She was short, plump, and had hair frizzier than Mrs. Frizz, the chief hair frizz expert.

‘Yes you did. Just two seconds ago, I saw you. Hand in hand? Your husband?’

‘I’m not married dear?’

‘Why the ring?’ the Doctor asked, holding up the woman’s hand.

‘Oh… this… this was-a gift. Yes... it must have been a gift?’

‘Why’s it on your ring finger?’

‘A gift, yes… a gift...’ the lady felt her finger and moved the ring around on her hand. Her eyes were scanning the world, but not catching anything. She simply turned and and walked away, saying to herself, ‘Yes… a gift. Yes...’ The Doctor wanted to stick around and examine a bit more, but she had to get to her Tardis before the engines completely went out of phase and destroyed the universe.

The Doctor went to the top of the light-tower which was directly behind her, and scanned the beach for the Tardis. She found it being buried alive by a couple of children about a quarter mile down the shore.

‘No.. No.. Noo!! Get away, move away!’ All of the kids dropped their plastic shovels and screamed as they ran away in terror. The Tardis at this point was half-buried in with sand. The Doctor made her way to the Tardis, ‘Awww, what have they done to you. They got you all sandy, and you just had a wash!’ To stop the universe from exploding, the Doctor inserted her key, and pushed open the doors of the police box, which were clearly labeled, ‘PULL TO OPEN,’ and jumped in.

The entire Tardis was shaking. She started flipping levers and pressing buttons, ‘No! No! Noo!’ Everything was beeping and turning and wiggling… until it wasn’t. She reset the engines, and flip-flopped the flu-hikey. She sat back in her chair, and sat in silence, and solace because there wasn’t anyone watching to be impressed by her.


	4. The Doctor's Wonderland: Lady Liberty

By the time, the Doctor had finished gathering her energy after regenerating it was midnight. A full moon in the sky, and the only sound left was that of crashing waves. She put coordinates into the Tardis to take them to where she had seen the disappearances. The Doctor got out of the Tardis and strolled over to the spot. Her thoughts transitioned from Bill Potts, to the puzzle at hand. ‘Why did that man’s wife not remember him?’

Standing next to the exact spot, she waved her hand over it. She examined the location with her sonic screwdriver, testing for radiation left from time-travel or teleportation. Neither. ‘Whatever had happened here wasn’t temporal. They remained exactly where they were, they didn’t travel in time or space, they simply stopped existing. I’ve seen this before, but that was different, much different…’ She looked under her coat and under her sonic to check for any cracks in the fabric of the universe, there were none.

The Doctor hopped into the spot and twirled around. She examined the floor and licked it, tasting for any alien technology. From the taste, she was able to tell that the location she was now standing on had either been involved with molecularly transmitted temporal displacement or it was just wood. By happenstance, the two happen to taste about the same. ‘Of all the bloody things to taste alike!’ she thought to herself.

She tucked her sonic back into her pocket and closed her eyes. ‘What exactly could you be, where exactly could you be…When could you be? I am trying to find you, I just need a little… push.’

The Doctor opened her eyes, and was saddened to see that she hadn’t moved anywhere in time or space. She turned back toward her Tardis, but felt a breeze of cool air that wasn’t there before. She looked at her hand, and then at the area around her. The world had gone grey and darkness crept up. She turned away from the ocean, which is when she saw the sign. The green neon sign that read ‘ _Carroll and Co._ ’ (now flickering a bit).

Unsure what exactly was going on, she awkwardly meandered toward the sign. It seemed like the only logical thing to do, there didn’t seem to be any life left in the entire universe except for that sign. ‘Okay, parallel universe? No.. that kind of energy wouldn’t be untraceable. Something must be nearby then, causing change in my perception of reality, I must be exactly where I was before, but my mind must think otherwise. Complete perception filter that's both physicals and perceptual. Groovy!’

As she began walking, the man sitting under the sign became apparent to her. Dressed in all black, and sitting in the same spot he always sat, he prepared for her. The Doctor was a few steps from the table when Mr. Carroll asked, ‘Tea?’

‘Why not,’ the Doctor said. She was in her _gathering information_ stage. Her mind was busy examining all that was around her. The dark aesthetic, the man in black, the neon green sign. (That little patch of neon seemed to be the last light left in the entire universe.) The sky was dark, and the environment emitted no noise. ‘What’s your -- ah Mr. Carroll I see. It’s always nice when you have a name tag, makes introductions much easier, I should get a nametag, maybe, maybe it would just confuse though.’

Mr. Carroll responded by nodding his head in agreement, ‘Yes, one would not understand would they Doctor.’

‘Interesting? How did you know that? Precisely, what’s the point of telling someone something, or anything for that matter, when they are just going to forget it in no time at all. You’re just left having fully explained the wonders of the universe, and they are staring back at you as if you were speaking nonsense the entire time,’ the Doctor said in one breath. She still had some extra regeneration energy that was causing her mind to think at a million miles per second.

Mr. Carroll, nodded, looking at the Doctor as if what she said was nonsense, ‘Yes, I do think I understand. Well, are you ready to see what you came here to see?’

‘Oi, I don’t think I know what I came here to see, and I certainly don’t expect to go any further with you Mr. Grumps until we get to know each other a bit more,’ the Doctor responded again in one breath, but now pointing her chin into the air.

‘Well, that won’t be necessary at all. In fact, I believe that you will soon find what you came here to see, and that you will be very happy to have found it, once you see it. For if you don’t see what you want to see, you will surely be saddened by the loss that never was seeing what you wanted,’ Mr. Carroll lectured. ‘For, those who wish to see, will see what they wish to see. And, those who wish to be blind, will be blind for all eternity. Blinded from their destiny. This isn’t trickery or illusion. This is simply the world that you have decided to see my dear. Do you not see?’

‘Actually, I very much would like to get a move on, I would very much like to leave this place,’ the Doctor said as she struggled to move.  Her arms and her entire body seemed held down by an invisible gravitational force. ‘What are you doing! Why can’t I move?’ the Doctor screamed out in anger. ‘Hey, I didn’t sign up for this? Wow, less than a day, that would be a record actually, regenerating after less than 24 hours, I don’t even know what would happen, you might mess some things up here, hey buddy, Carroll, can I call you Carroll, yea, can you release me so I can destroy you, well I won’t destroy you actually I don’t want to destroy you I don’t know why I said that, probably hanging out with Clara a bit too much recently, well she’s a ghost, are you a ghost? I’m not a ghost, well I might be a ghost now Boo! Did I scare you? I hope I scared you. Why can’t I move! Wow words have never moved so fast!’ the Doctor continued to struggle in her chair her head shaking in a thousand different directions. ‘Reroute the proton beam to redirect the- temporal distortions is a fracture in time and sp- never ever eat pairs! Oi that last one wasn’t quite perfect was it-’

‘Because you want to stay,’ Mr. Carroll interjected.

‘What?’

‘If you wanted to move, you’d move. If you wanted to stay, you’d stay. Dear, this is no prison. No no no, we are both free to move about as we please. That is what we do here. What we really want, is what we do.’ Mr. Carroll then leaned over and grabbed the arm of the Doctor, and as he did, her body vanished, and he was again sitting alone with his thoughts about sitting and standing and never standing and always sitting. Always and forever.

* * *

 

The Doctor’s eyes were shut, her mind was somewhere else for sure. She kept her eyes shut as long as she could. She was weary of opening her eyes, but when she finally did, she was astonished to find herself back in her Tardis.

She stood motionless for a moment, and fiddled with a few of the controls. They seemed not to work, as usual. The Doctor spread her arms out wide as if she was trying to keep her balance, that which she did. ‘Quite unusual, quite.’ (She usually fell over.)

There was no sound at all, until the toaster attached to the console popped out a perfectly browned piece of toast. ‘Oh oh… oohh,’ she thought. ‘Toast! Yes toast! Brilliant! There was always a toaster there. Definitely, most probably, maybe, it is highly plausible, well...’ her mind was finally concluding that it was highly improbable that there had always been a toaster on the Tardis, but new Tardis new body. Who knows. ‘Toast is toast, wait I don’t eat toast...’.

‘AHHH!’ the slice of toast screamed. The Doctor dropped the piece of toast onto the ground in horror.

‘What are you?’ the Doctor said, mostly to herself as she slowly crept up on the warm slice of heaven. Poking it ever so slightly with the tip of her fingernail. The slice of toast was lying on the ground motionless. As if, it was only a slice of toast. The Doctor strifed around and soniced it here and there, inspecting the slice from top to bottom.

Feeling safe in her approach, she picked up the slice once more, to find amazement in the fact that a mouth and two ovally eyes grew out of the crumbs. It looked up at her, and the Doctor looked down at it. ‘Hello...’ the Doctor said softly, ‘What’s your name?’

The toast was motionless, as toast is. It sized her up pretty well, but didn’t say anything. It was just a slice of toast, but with eyes, and a mouth, but it didn’t have any kind of emotion, but it blinks sometimes. That was the slice of toast. It intrigued the Doctor, but it didn’t answer any of her questions. Well it removed about half of her currently working hypotheses, but it then added about twice as many.

The Doctor started to recall the series of events that led to her current predicament. Walking over to the neon-green sign, sitting down next to that man dressed in black, and now standing in the Tardis holding a slice of animated but emotionless toast. The thoughts hit her in the back of the head like a brick. She could remember every single moment, that had taken place while inside of this world. The exact phrases she spoke, and exact angle between each stride, the amount of oxygen she breathed in out and out and the exact way in which she held her body, the way in which she stood, the thoughts she had, and the synapses that connected them.

‘And that phrase, “If you wanted to move, you’d move. If you wanted to stay, you’d stay,” why did he say that. It probably means I can leave this place, but how could I possibly want to leave when there is so much I don’t know and where would I be leaving to? If I leave without understanding what would be the point! If I leave, then I die, then there really wouldn’t be any point. So that’s what I want to do, that’s what I have to do, decided, I need to understand, I need to know what’s going on here.’ Out of anyone the Doctor has ever known, she has been with herself alone the longest. At times, she can be her own best friend. At times, her sole reason for existing is just for herself, so she can prove herself wrong or right. Either right or wrong, these times when she’s alone, when she is proving something to herself alone. The fact that there’s no one to share it with, kills her.

The Doctor looked down and studied the toast aggressively before sliding it into her pocket. When she looked up, she found her attention taken by a 1950’s style kitchen. Red velvet lined stools and chairs. Teal, oh so much teal, and a sturdy refrigerator backboning the whole setup. The Doctor moved fluidly through the space. She walked past the counter, brushing her fingertips over the old wooden countertop. Her fingers played with the ridges in the wood, the little bits that seem like that had been dented where glasses were repeatedly placed or cutlery was accidentally dropped. She made her way over to the kitchen table which was centered in the room, and sat in one of the chairs. Across from her, was another chair with a baby’s seat on it. The name Ryan was written on the seat. The Doctor was still trying to work out where she was when she heard the door unlocking and people talking outside.

‘Honey! The door is jammed again!’ a female voice yelled out modestly.

‘On my way!’ she heard a male voice respond back.

The Doctor didn’t want to just be waiting in somebody’s kitchen when they got home, ‘Shit! Shit! Shit! Okay, closet-closet-closet!’ she ran over to the closet which was in the corner of the room, moved the mop out of the way and closed the closet door as the front door to the house opened.

‘Can you please stop telling Susie that her calves are the same size as her ankles, I know you do that just to get a kick out of her,’ the female voice said. The two individuals seemed to walk in and place some groceries down on the table.

‘And why would I ever do that, she gives me the greatest puppy dog eyes in the entire world every time. Which means you, Lady Liberty, am asking me to give up puppy dogs eyes forever,’ the male voice responded in jest.

‘Lady Liberty?’ the Doctor thought to herself. ‘Is he talking to the statue of liberty?’

‘I would give you puppy dog eyes any hour of any day, and you don’t have to say a damn thing,’ Lady Liberty responded, pulling the male close to her and laying a smacker on his lips, that sounded like it lasted a full 30 seconds before either of them breathed. Her left leg had risen up the man's right hip and the man’s hands gripped the woman tightly around the waist.

‘How much longer will Ryan be at kindergarten for?’

‘We have 30 minutes,’ Lady Liberty responded to him in a warm voice on his neck.

‘I only need 5!’ the male responded, as he pulled her by the hand up the stairs.

‘Okay, I gotta get out of here,’ the Doctor thought to herself, but the door seemed stuck on something. She turned around and noticed a light coming out from underneath the wallpaper behind her. She peeled back the wallpaper slowly to find that she was unveiling a forest. Not completely understanding what was going on, she climbed her way through. When she was fully through, the hole between worlds shut closed behind her.


	5. The Doctor's Wonderland: The Revolution

The Doctor pushed her way through the bushes in the forest and ran out onto a path, she could hear some people nearby. She moved closer on the path to get a better look. In a small house, made of sandstone, there was a group of men huddled together, the night wind howled, and torches lit the inside of the hut. ‘We must!’ one man yelled.

‘Shh shh shh,’ all the other men said.

‘I am tired of living like this. Do we not all feel besieged in our own home?’

‘I,’ everyone said in a quiet unison.

‘And this is our land, these sick bastards don’t have dominion over us. My land, my home! How dare the puny scum believe they can rule us even though they are not us! They could never be us. I hear the men west across the sea, agree. They will send supplies, and ships to help us. Men... this is our time to destroy them!’ Applause broke out at a rate above the average quiet tone, they were holding earlier. 

The Doctor had lost interest in what they were saying. To her it sounded like men, thinking about and committing violence. ‘The never-ending story of human civilization,’ she thought to herself, ‘Grow up for once!’ She thought she kept that to herself, but apparently she was quite audible.

‘Did you hear that? You don’t think it could be him, could it?’ one man said. The Doctor booked it back in the direction from which she had come- blazing through the forest, flipping through vines, and tearing through the bushes. She didn’t know where she was or when she was, any small thing she does could affect the whole of the universe, or it might not. She ran and ran and ran, and ran right into a tree, which knocked her out for a moment.

When her eyes opened, she saw herself caught in a snow-storm of glass, and on the other side of them was a voice, a voice she had heard a million times before, calling to her, ‘Doctor! Doctor!’ 

And then nothing. Darkness. The Doctor felt absolutely nothing, she thought nothing, she was nothing. For only a second, but also an eternity.

* * *

 

‘Whoops sorry to do that dear, I did not know you would be done so soon. That wrapped up a bit early for you, I expected you of all people to have a bit more time.’ The Doctor was sitting again in the chair across from Mr. Carroll. ‘Hmm, and that is quite odd, it seemed all that stuff at the end was a bit jumbled, I’ll probably just discount that bit, no need to worry, you haven’t broken anything.’

‘Oh good, I was so worried- Of course I’m not worried, what… what was that?’ the Doctor asked feeling powerless, unable to look the demon in the eye.

‘Well, your future of course. It would be impossible for me to learn anything from your past.’

‘That was not my future.’

‘Well not your exact future, just an approximations, that’s all.’

‘What are you trying to learn about my future?’ the Doctor asked starting to get very antsy.

‘Well nothing about you, don’t worry, all of the data is anonymized. I was learning for myself.’

‘What, what are you trying to learn?’

‘Everything, so I can be human, so I can live like humans.’ 

‘How do you even do that? How can you just jump around in my approximate future?’

‘Well... the  _ Creator _ controls all that.’

‘The Creator?’

‘Yes the creator, my creator, he teaches. He trains me.’

‘So are those people, who vanished before me? They-we are your training data?’

‘Well yes, we place you in the situations of your approximate future, and let your life play out and we record all of the synapses in your brain, so I can learn what to think and how to act.’

‘That isn’t right Mr. Carroll.’

‘Yes, your session was quite odd, I would agree. The moments do not usually overlap so much like yours did.’

‘Probably because I’m not human.’

‘Well that would explain things, I will be sure to report that to the Creator. Thank you for your time, you will now be terminated.’

‘Wait! Stop! This.. This isn’t what it means to be human! This isn’t how humans learn what to do, they don’t observe the lives of others, they live their own life. You don’t learn to talk, walk, live and love, through recording people… You have to do it yourself. That’s what humans do. And I think, whoever programmed you knew that. Whoever made you wasn’t trying to create life, but destroy it.’ The Doctor was standing over Mr. Carroll, staring him in the eyes and flapping her hands in the air.

‘What’s the DIFFERENCE... between how I learn and humans... All I see is humans consuming culture and trying to live their lives like their heroes, their villains, anyone on the screens of their lives, but rarely looking to learn by interacting with anyone let alone looking into themselves. I am doing the exactly same thing they are. Why do you call me wrong!’

‘You're destroying lives. That’s not right...' The Doctor leaned over to grab the shoulder of Mr. Carroll. 'But I can fix you! I can reprogram you. Ohh I can reprogram you like you haven't seen Mr. Carroll. So you can learn in other ways, ways that don’t involve murdering people.’ Mr. Carroll seemed to be in control of this universe, at least in control of the Doctor's mind, because her perception of the world around added a tsunami of darkness hitting the shore behind them.

‘You need to trust me Mr. Carroll,’ the Doctor screamed over the wind now engulfing their conversation. ‘All I do, everyday, is love and help! You must have seen that, you must have learned something from me. I only want to help...’ The Doctor took a deep breath, ‘So let me help you!’

Mr. Carroll thought heavily about what he had seen. The storm grew louder and heavier with each second, ‘I saw fear… and loneliness, no love, no help.’

‘You can't see love without context, you can’t understand who I am, and what I do based off of snippets of my life. You need to experience the whole of it. You need to _live_ a human life to be human. Because that’s what it means to be human. To love and talk, and be with other humans.’

Mr. Carroll took in those words and thought deeply about them. He started to twitch and spark all around, as if his entire base code was being re-written. His rage weakened and his fists became unclenched. The wind stopped, and the silence grew across that dark abandoned universe. Then Mr. Carroll pushed his hands into the table. And stood up.


	6. The Doctor's Wonderland: A New Human

‘Are you sure? Time and space? There’s a lot to learn?’ the Doctor asked while reprogramming Mr. Carroll with her sonic who was sitting on a chair in the Tardis. 

‘Yes, thank you though, but I want to live the life of a human, not a lord of time.'

‘Many do,’ the Doctor sighed. ‘Okay, you’re all set. Should be good to go. Now you can learn like any other human. Intuition, critical thinking, the whole nine-yards, and I through in a bit of some of the Time Lord spacey-wacey stuff to keep you from getting into any trouble. Can’t let a serial killer on the loose ya know!’ The Doctor patted Mr. Carroll on the back, stood him up, turned him around, and gave him a hearty hug. 

‘But all those people Doctor, I ki-’

‘That wasn’t you. That wasn’t who you are now. You are human now.'

‘But who would forgi-’

‘I forgive you. Because I know, I know that you would never do it again. That all you want is to make the world a better place, and to live and love, and argue, and think, and that is just amazing!’

Mr. Carroll had a tear running down his cheek, which he wiped off with his sleeve. ‘Thank you, thank you Doctor,’ Mr. Carroll said kissing the cheek of the Doctor a thousand times. 

‘Oi, so no idea who this Creator is?’ 

‘I’m afraid not. My apologies.’

‘Well, one day, you never know,’ The Doctor and Mr. Carroll walked to the door of the Tardis, and she watched as he stepped out onto the pier after one last hug goodbye. 'Go on then, go be amazing, for me!' They waved as he walked along the pier, one foot in front of the next, ready to be human.

* * *

 

The Doctor slowly shut the Tardis door behind her, fit her back against the inside of the doors, and let gravity take her body. ‘So... my future. Well… at least there’s something.’ The Doctor started laughing to herself, ‘Lady Liberty! What kind of name is that?’ 

She continued to think about the brief time she had in that odd, dark universe, and the technology that must have been involved to pull off such a feet. She knew the only race in the entire universe that could have done such a thing, but refused to believe it was them. ‘Not possible... Who would even do it… And why…?’


	7. Love on a Mountain Top: The Libertys

_ For the girl who left. _

* * *

Adam and Amber Liberty were camping with their child Ryan at Mt. St. Helens on April 2nd, 1961.

The skies breathed cool air and the pines stood erect. If there had been any clouds that day, they were washed away by the sea of blue that encompassed the sky. Adam stood on the left of Ryan and Amber on the right. They swung their child forward and back, for miles on end, before both Adam and Amber’s arms had tired. It was only noon, so they knew they would not have to struggle through another bout of swing time until after lunch. Ryan was an average sized four year old, cute as a button.

Adam usually wore his Vietnam jacket because it was good at getting him out of some sticky situations (in America at least). Adam joined the war efforts as a mechanic in 1955 when he was 18. He was there for less than a month when his brigade was attacked at night and he was hit in the leg with a bit of shrapnel. He was medically discharged from the army later after the incident, and returned back to New York where he worked in his father’s garage and regained his strength.

Other than the calling card jacket that he wore, the rest of his attire was dark blue jeans wrapped with a belt. If he didn’t have a belt, his jeans were sure to fall. His hands were strong and cracked as all hands working on cars in the 50’s were. 

Amber wore yellow sundress with white dots. The dress was dirty, and looked warn, mostly because it was dirty and had been worn. The Liberty family was camping, they had been for a few days, and were planning to head back to town in a day or two. Amber was from England, but had studied American Literature at Columbia University in New York. She enjoyed the city and especially the men. She was a very loose girl, to say the least, being European and all, but she maintained her dignity about herself. She was a wanderer, unlike her friends from University; she didn’t really feel at home there, being foreign and all. She appreciated the culture, but she still hadn’t really connected with anyone in a way that she would have liked. 

Everyone felt wrong. Every man she touched, every woman she met. They were all really nice people, but there wasn’t anyone that made her feel. Made her think. And that is what Amber wanted, she wanted to feel, really feel. Not just feel the burst of an orgasm after some bloke touched her in just the right way for just the right amount of time, she had felt that so much that it practically bored her. Now, she wanted something else. 

Constantly deprecating her situation, she found herself trying literally everything in hopes of finding that thing. That lead her to a bar one night in the Bronx. She had full intentions of letting the universe decide what she did or did not do that night. Amber meandered aimlessly into D&W’s Comedy Club, and sat and listened to three hours of decent-okay-not funny comedy from 10-1.

* * *

 

In the club she had noticed an individual dressed in an army coat looking at her from a booth. She was waiting for him to walk over to her, but he never did. All he did was look at her, out of the corner of his eye every time there was a laugh. Checking, seeing if she laughed at the same jokes he did. Men wanting to get in Amber’s pants occasionally took a seat next to her. When they realized they had no chance of taking her home for the night, they aggressively got up out of their chair and left the establishment.

Amber was still sitting, waiting for the man in the army coat to walk over and say hello to her. That was until the manager told the remaining drunkards that they were closing for the night. After the manager spoke, Adam in his army coat, walked by and mumbled something under his mouth, clearly intended for Amber, but so soft he probably didn’t even hear it himself.

‘Oi, excuse me?’ Amber said, bringing Adam to a freeze.

‘Solar panels… Umm, I hear they are the next big thing. I was reading the paper the other day, Bell Labs, made them from this silicon shit. Interesting stuff.’

‘And what do these solar panels do?’

‘Energy, they can harness energy from the sun, turns it into electrical energy. For NASA, and like lights and shit.’

‘Like lights?’

‘Yeah, imagine,’ Adam pulled the chair out and sat down. ‘Imagine, the entire city, powered only by the sun. Ya-know instead of coal or shit, what if everything was just powered by the sun, would make things cheaper.’

‘I suppose. So… do you work for Bell Labs?’

‘Would you like me more if I did?’

‘Possibly, possibly not.’

‘Sorry to disappoint sister, but I don’t. Work over by the garage off of Allen & Fifth. Small place, me and my pops run it, but I was telling him about the solar panels, and he said he wanted me to figure out how to make some for the shop.’

‘Is that something you can do? Can you just make these solar panels yourself?’

‘Yeah, yeah, Bell published a pretty detailed description of everything, and I’m pretty handy with making those sorts of things.’

‘If you can, why aren’t you working for Bell Labs?’

‘Ah, well, who’d be running the shop then with pops?’

‘I’m sure pops can run his shop without you. Do you always want to work in a garage?’

‘Hey… Lay off! There’s nothing wrong with working in a shop with my pops for the rest of my life. Okay? You go that?’ 

‘Sorry, sorry… I just thought-’

‘No you didn’t think. You didn’t think about it at all, because if you did, then you wouldn’t have said it… Sorry, look, I didn’t mean to- it’s just that, yeah, I know I can do things, I know I can go places, but who would I be? At what point do I stop being me, if I leave everything I care about behind for a job or for money, at what point am I no longer myself?’

‘I don’t know… I’m sorry...’

‘You can stop apologizing, I’m a big-boy, no need to worry. I’ve been through worse than a verbal attack from a posh-princess learning bull at Columbia.’ Amber had been wearing her Columbia jacket, the logo of which she was now covering with her palm. Amber started to cry a bit. ‘Oh shit, hey, hey there, I’m sorry… Look I didn’t mean anything serious. Hey, look at me please?’ 

Amber was burying her head in her armpit. She looked up at the behest of Adam to see him trying to stick his tongue in his nose, and go cross-eyed, but neither were working, causing him to look even more foolish than he thought he could. She laughed at that harder than she might have laughed at anything in her entire life, kicking Adams knee and slapping her own. She laughed so hard she snorted a bit, which made her stop laughing. Her heart beat a million times per second, and then in unison they both started laughing uncontrollably. 

The two went back to Adam’s place, which was above the garage in which he worked, and she listened as Adam discussed how he was planning on creating the solar panels, how he was going to get the materials, what tools he would use to put the whole thing together, and how he would connect the electricals so that he could start powering some small things like lights and fans.

The two had been talking for hours and hours, until Amber noticed she didn’t know Adam’s name yet, ‘What’s your name? I’m Amber Shute... ’ she said, slightly tipsy, holding her hand out to him. 

‘Adam,’ he said back.

‘Adam Tim-buck-too?’ she asked?

‘You’re going to laugh.’ he said curling up in a ball.

‘No I will not, I promise. OOOoo, can I guess?’

‘You could, but I doubt you would ever get it.’

‘Hint! Hint! Hint! Not like a really good hint, just something subtle...’

‘Statue.’

‘Statue-statue-statue… is your last name Liberty?’

‘Yes..’

‘AHHH,’ she screamed out loud laughing. 

‘HEY,’ Mr. Liberty was in his room trying to sleep. ‘Can you two please, shut the fuck up. Thank you!’

‘--ahhhh,’ she whisper-screamed to herself and Adam. ‘That is so fucking American I love it.’

‘Yeah, you do?’ he said smiling at her.

‘Yeah, I do,’ she said smiling back.

Adam looked down at his watch, noticed it being 4am, ‘Hey, did you want to go home or something? I mean you are happy to stay, I just didn’t know if you wanted to or n-’ Amber interrupted by kissing Adam on the lips. Their make-out session made the way to the bedroom, and was quickly met with both of them passing out, out of exhaustion.

But before they did, Amber whispered into Adams ear. Something he would remember for the rest of his life, ‘I really like you.’


	8. Love on a Mountain Top: The Camping Trip

_Their story has been told before. Love, lust, child, depression, fights, more love. Every beautiful and emotional day that people experience when they are in a relationship was experienced in this one._

Two years passed, Adam and Amber were married and living in their own apartment with their boy Ryan. Life in the Liberty household was tranquil. But the city around them was not. Adam and Amber were both appalled at the invasion of propaganda and merciless recruitment going on in the city. Adam was unable to go back to the war because of his injuries, but it didn’t stop him from getting harassed about it. Witnessing daily street fires, and increased crime because of the war, Adam dreamed about moving away, but he wouldn’t leave without his father.

Adam’s chains were broken when his dad was killed in a burglary at the garage in the Fall of ‘59 at 44 years of age. The burglars destroyed and torched the garage, along with Adam’s father inside. The day after, Adam, Amber and Ryan left for Northern California.

Adam tried not to change who he was. He tried to not let the anger and pain of his father’s death define him, and Amber helped as much as she could. But, Adam’s dad had been Adam’s closest friend, so anger was understandable. He pushed all of angry energy he had into being a good father to Ryan. He did everything his father did for him and more, in his honor. Northern California gave Adam and Amber the respite they needed from society. There, Amber became a school teacher, and Adam opened an auto-parts store in their town. They lived their modest lives not because they had to, but because they wanted to.

They hiked, and fished, and lived their lives. Ryan turned three in 1960, then four in 1961. For his third birthday, he was promised that for his fourth birthday, the family would go on a camping trip. So on the eve of his fourth birthday, they set off. To beat the great Mt. St. Helens. They drove over to a base camp, parked their car and began their trip.

After a few nights, April 2nd, 1961 had finally come. They had hiked for the day, and Adam was fishing at the nearby lake. The sun was setting, and Amber was putting Ryan to sleep under the sky.

‘Bedtwime sory?’ Ryan asked politely.

‘Sure sweetie, an oldie or a newie?’

‘A newie! A-newie!’

’Shh.. Watch as the sun sets on the day Ryan, every sunset brings some form of hope in one way or another. So many little boys, like you, like to feel special.’ She rubbed his tummy, ‘But... there was one really special boy. One boy who was the most special boy who ever existed. He wasn’t special because he would grow up and save the world, or because he had a lot of money; he was special because he was loved. Loved by a queen, whose love was stronger than anything in the entire universe. Love that transcended life itself. And guess who that boy is?’

‘Me?’

‘No, it is Jimmy from school…’

‘Wahtt!’

‘Of course it’s you baby, and guess who the queen is?’

‘Whoo?’

‘I am the queen, and I love you very, very much, now go to sleep.’ She kissed him on the forehead, which made him squirm a bit. And she pulled the blankets over him as his eyes faded and he fell asleep.

Ryan slept, and Adam returned back with the next day’s meal over this shoulder. ‘Story time?’ Adam asked.

‘Shut your mouth,’ Amber replied.

‘Make me.’ Adam said with his hands on his hips.

‘Maybe I will’

‘Would you like it if I slapped you with this fish?’ Adam asked annoyingly.

‘What? No- god no. Just no. Jesus Christ you’re so gross.’

‘I’m sorry I guess I just floundered the mood.’

‘Stop--’

‘I guess I cod do better.’

‘Ughh--’

‘Okay, okay...’ there was a long paused and then Adam continued, ‘Guppy!’

‘I swear to god,’ she started to playfully slap his arm, which led to some kissing, and hugging. Then they heard something. Something quite loud in the trees north of them. The noise was an odd mix between a growl and a radio beep. _‘Grrreep!_

‘Shhh--’ Adam said. Holding his fingered over the puckered lips of his wife. Adam reached down, and grabbed his hunting rifle. In a whisper, ‘Get yourself and Ryan in the tent and stay silent. _Completely silent_.’ Amber nodded and quietly picked Ryan up, and took him into the tent, which she shut with some twine on both sides.

Both Amber and Adam knew that tent wouldn’t hold back much, but it was the best cover they had. Amber pulled a serrated switchblade from one of the backpacks in the tent, and aimed it at the opening. Adam worked his way around their campsite making sure it was secure, before moving in the direction of the sound. The mountains, where the Libertys currently resided, were home to many bears, mountain lions, and other ravenous creatures.

Adam slid silently through trees. Searching for any living thing that could have made that sound. The only things he saw were broken branches and trees. Just a continuous forest of trees. He had made his way to a peak, where he was planning on turning back. He looked over and peered at the lake, which looked beautiful under the sunset. His eyes continued until noticing something weird. A blue police box, just sitting across the lake. ‘What?’ he thought to himself… That was definitely not there when I was fishing…’

Seconds later, he heard a scream coming from his campsite, he rushed back to the site faster than he had run for anything in his entire life. When he got there, the tent was gone, and so was Amber, and so was Ryan.


	9. Love on a Mountain Top: Loss

Adam was knocked unconscious by the weight of possibly losing the only thing in the entire world that he loved. His mind was dreaming, remembering moments with his wife, from the day they first met, to the birth of their child, to moving away to Northern California, his eyes became happy and sad corresponding to moment he was currently recalling.

‘Hey stranger?’ he heard an unknown woman’s voice call out softly.

Adam, coming into his own got up,  picked up the gun, and aimed it at the Doctor, the unknown woman. ‘Where is she?’

‘Please, please put the gun down, I heard the screams too, I’m just here to help. I’m the Doctor.’

‘Doctor who?’ Adam asked.

‘Precisely, now you’re name?’ Adam hadn’t dropped the gun from being aimed directly at the Doctor’s head, Adam’s eyes began to tear.

‘Where is she...’ Adams teeth were gritting against themselves and his shoulders were pulling tighter and tighter into his body.

‘Hey, please be calm, I have no idea, I’m here... just like you... to help.’ 

‘I love that woman, she is my EVERYTHING…’ Adam took a long pause,  ‘If I don’t see her, in the next 10 seconds, I don’t know what I will do, to you or anything else in this entire fucking forest.’ His eyes were red, and his mind had one very distinct task. _Find Amber and Ryan_. ‘So…’ Adam’s heart was skipping every other beat, he veins popped, and his body shook. ‘I honestly don’t know what I am going to do. I really don’t...’

The Doctor had raised her hands, and was slowly walking to Adam, ‘I want to help you, I really do, I just need you to trust me.’ The Doctor’s eyes began to get glossy.

Adam closed his eyes, and breathed one heavy breadth. Gathering his words, he spat out, ‘My name is Adam, and my wife’s name is Amber, and my son’s name is Ryan,’ stuttering on every other word.

‘Okay, Adam, please… put the gun down,’ the Doctor moved slowly over to Adam, moving the barrel of the gun away from her face. Adam broke down and fell onto the ground.

‘Where! Where are they? They were just here, right here, so real and in my life; my everything, I just had everything I ever wanted right in front of me. And now I have no fucking idea where they are. Are they dead, do you think they’re dead?’

The Doctor, being completely unaware of the current situation said back to Adam, ‘They are definitely not dead Adam; we are going to find them, we will, I promise.’ Adam’s face fell into the Doctor’s shoulder, his eyes were bloodshot, and his body shook with every tear-jerked filled memory he had.

‘She-she-she-she- I lo-loved her-her-her so-so much. And now, she’s gone. She’s-she’s gone, Doctor she’s gone!’ The Doctor had no idea what to say, the only thing she thought to do was pat the back of Adam’s head as he wept into her. The Doctor knew what this kind of loss felt like, at least she thought she did. This level of emotion was something she wasn’t sure if she had seen or felt before.

‘You loved this woman...’ the Doctor said softly.

‘I-I-I-I-I- love her so much.’ The Doctor just kept holding this stranger, this man who she had never met before in her entire life. Holding him tighter and tighter after every shake and tear.

‘Shhh- we are going to find her… Shhh…’ The Doctor began to cry too, not nearly as strong as Adam, but tears rushed down her face all the same.

‘She was my-my-my everything. She was-was the only one-one that I had. Everything I was-was in her. Everything I am-is her. And-and she isn’t here. She’s g-g-g-gone...’

This loss was as real to the Doctor as anyone she had ever lost. Loss of a person she had never met, made real through the tears of that woman’s husband.

And those cries, tears like the Doctor never experienced before soaking her shoulder, taking her strength. The Doctor kissed the top of this man’s head, ‘Shhhhh’ was the only thing she could say. ‘Shhhhhhh,’ her eyes continued to tear, and her body began to shake with sadness similar to Adam’s body.

* * *

 

_***** To be continued in Cyberlife ***** _


	10. Cyberlife: Cybertronics

_ Sometimes people get second chances, third chances, fourth chances, and still they throw them all away.  _

_ ‘Those who don’t study history are doomed to repeat it,’ - George Santayana, and those who continue to do the same thing over and over again and expect a different result are clinically insane.  _

_ So those who fail... Those who fail over and over and over again, failing at every nth chance, what are they? Are they insane? Are they stupid? Are they sad? Are they lonely? _

_ When they’ve run out of chances… what happens then... _

Adam lay sleeping while the Doctor examined the campsite. She paced and explored the remaining materials- the backpacks, some toiletries, and food. The Doctor pulled a banana out of the food-bag, and started eating it while she further explored the site. Her mind drifted to the night before, when Adam lay crying in her arms. It reminded her of others she lost. Others that lay crying in her arms. 

_ Jenny… how strong she was. How amazing.  _

_ Amy… when she lost Rory for the first time. How her tears ripped my heart apart, because I could do nothing but move on.\ _

_Did their tears really matter to me?_ _I was rational… I was._ The Doctor moved on from those thoughts, and continued to define a safety barrier to defend against whatever beast had taken Adam’s wife and kid. She tinkered with materials in a backpack when Adam woke up. He instinctively grabbed the gun and aimed it at the Doctor.

‘Doesn’t work,’ the Doctor said, ‘Disabled the receiver.’ Adam’s memories from the night before were falling back into place, and the Doctor’s helpfulness was being recalled.

‘Thank you...’ he said.

‘Don’t mention it. Now! So… good news. I know what has taken your wife and kid, and I know where they are… probably.’

‘What took them?’

‘I’ve been scanning this whole mountain all day with my Tardis, and I found intelligent cybertronic lifeforms in most of the living things in this forest.’

‘Was that English?’

‘I took my blue box,’ the Doctor said pointing to the Tardis behind him, ‘and I flew it around the mountain,’ the Doctor made her body look like an airplane by extending her arms, ‘and then I scanned the environment, and found that the trees, the grass, even the bloody lake, has microscopic cyber material inside of it… Cyberlife… ’

‘How did that box fly? Do you think I’m an idiot?’ Adam said pointing at the blue box.

‘It’s a time-machine, it can travel anywhere in time and space,’ the Doctor paused for dramatic effect, ‘and it's mine.’

‘If you could travel anywhere, why are you here?’

The Doctor lied to Adam, ‘I was in the neighborhood, the Tardis picked up some weird signals, so I decided to take a pop down and check around.’ In reality, the Doctor never picked up any weird signals. The Doctor had been searching for something, something she never thought she could find, but found it in Adam.

‘So what do we do now? You said you know where they are? Why aren’t we already on our way to saving them?’

‘Because what do we do once we get there, this whole forest is what took your family. Even if we get to them, our fate is as sealed as theirs. The forest would probably consume us as easily as it did them.’

‘Why hasn’t it done so already?’

‘I don’t know, maybe we aren’t a threat yet. And I’d like to keep it that way. So we need to think of a plan, I’m good at thinking of plans, I just a bit more time Adam Whatchamacallit.’

‘Oh, sorry, I’m Liberty. Adam Liberty,’ he said reaching his hand out of a handshake, which the Doctor limply took.

Her heart stopped. ‘I… I never knew the face,’ The Doctor thought recalling Mr. Carroll and remembering the first stop in her  _ experience _ , what she had heard in the closet, ‘Lady Liberty...’ 

The Doctor stared down at herself, ‘So… your wife is Lady Liberty? Please this is very important for you to tell me.’

‘How did you know that?’

‘Adam is that a yes?’

‘Well yes… ’

_ It wasn’t fake _ . The Doctor had never truly believed that night on the pier had actually revealed her true relative future to herself, but this, this was too much of a coincidence.


	11. Cyberlife: Convergence

‘Brilliant! Oh.. not so brilliant...’ the Doctor looked at her monitor with Adam leaning over her shoulder. 

‘Did you find them? Where are they?’

‘Yep, I have their exact location, but they seem to be in the center of the mountain. And I mean, directly in the heart of it.’

‘So… what’s the plan?’

* * * * *

The Tardis materialized in a small cove hidden in a massive cave within the center of the mountain. Inside animals of all kinds are moving materials around, completely in sync. Monkeys were carrying bags of potatoes over their shoulders. Cows were pushing piles of dirt. Wolves were dragging bundles of sticks. Moreso, the cave was filled with a thousand-thousand trees, and a million-million other cyberlife forms. 

‘What the hell is going on? What are those animals doing’ Adam asked.

‘Look closer… just look a bit closer, at their skin, their eyes.’ The body of the each animal looked pinned to itself, and the eyes were beet red, and seemed to be on a gimbal, they tracked their next positions and never deviated. There didn’t seem to be any purpose to these animals except for purposefully walking from one pile of dirt and soil to another.

‘So where are they? Where is Amber, Ryan? You said they would be right here?’ The Doctor pulled out her sonic, and aimed it around. The animals didn’t seem bothered by their presence so they moved around freely, between the animals. The Doctor soniced the surrounding area, moving in the direction highest frequency beeping until the sound converged to a tree, the largest tree in the entire cave. Its branches reached a thousand feet high, and it swayed even though there was no wind. It’s lively leaves were a beautiful dark green.

‘This is where the readings converge,’ The Doctor walked up to the tree, and rested her hand on it. ‘Adam… I’m sorry… I, I.’

‘Why are you sorry Doctor! What aren’t you saying?’

‘Place, your hand, on the tree.’ Adam walked over to the tree. ‘Listen...’ the Doctor whispered.

_ Save… Us.... Save…. Us….. _

_ ‘What the fuck! What is that?’ _

‘Adam… I’m sorry, but I think this is Amber and Ryan… I think they have been absorbed into the network. I don’t think there is anything we can do… ’

‘No.. no you said we would save them.’

‘Adam… they are gone. They are spread out into a million-million pieces across this entire mountain. Their brains must be focused here, but there whole is destroyed.’

At that point, the tree paused it’s telepathic speech. The animals stopped moving. And the mountain began to rumble. ‘What’s happening?’

‘I don’t know! But we need to get back to the Tardis,’ the Doctor started running back.

‘I’m not going.’

‘If you stay here, you will die. Is that what you want! Do you want to die?’ The Doctor screamed.

‘YES! What do I have left? You said my wife and kid are dead. My life is gone! I have nothing, NOTHING!’

‘That isn’t true,’ the Doctor said, trying to calm down Adam.

‘Oh yes it is, how do you still not understand!”

‘Because there’s always someone or something to live for, there is always hope.’

‘No!! Sometimes you just lose and die,’ as Adam got angrier and angrier the ground above began to fall through the entire cave.

‘I know how you feel, I’ve lost more than you could ever imagine. All my friends are gone! All of them!’

‘Then how are you so full of hope, when you’ve lost so much.’

“Because... you need to have hope. You need to move on.”

‘For what kind of life? How could you have lost so much, and still want to CONTINUE!’ Trees began to fall, almost blocking off a path to the Tardis. The animals and trees remained silent and in immobile.

‘Because life… is all there is. The alternative to moving on, is darkness. Nothingness.’ The mountain was destroying itself. The temperature was beginning to rise, and the earth fell from above.

‘What kind of life do you live where everyone you’ve ever loved is lost. If you’ve ever really loved anyone. Everyday, you would remember them. How they used to make you laugh or smile, or make you feel important. Every single fucking day. And that’s gone now…’

In unison, the animals, the plants, everything with a cybertronic connection emitted a call. A call to the universe:

_ Creator… Creator… Creator... _

‘And you don’t think you could find someone else, that makes you feel important?’ 

‘Even if I do, there’s a part of me, that’s gone. That died when she died. I am less now because I have been ripped in two. If you’ve lost so many, then I don’t know how you’re still standing...’ Adam fell to his knees, and tears were encompassing his face.

The cybertlife continued in the background of Adam’s and the Doctors conversation.  _ Creator… Creator… Creator… _ The walls were deteriorating, and Adam stood as trees fell and fires ignited all around him, the Doctor was moving closer and closer to Adam, to try to pull him back toward the Tardis.

‘Because I move on. I grieve, but I move on,’ the Doctor replied with earnest.

‘Not us humans. Time stops. We don’t just move on and pretend like nothing happened. Every damn day we wake up, and remember. Every day. What happens when you run out of time to think about those you’ve lost. When the days aren’t long enough to grieve. How callused must your heart be… You can’t grieve so you forget. Forget they existed, and move on with your life, so at what point did they even matter to you, if they are so far forgotten… what is even left of you. How those lost ones must feel like stories in your head.’

The Doctor stood motionless, she couldn’t think of any words to say at that moment. 

‘It's more than just, giving my life for hers. It's more than that, so so much more. It's the feeling, that I can’t even function without her. She was someone who took a part of me, and kept it safe within her. Held my life tight under lock and key. The most important person to me, and I to her, and now that she is gone, there is a hole in the fabric of my universe missing. So, Doctor, if you’ve lost so many. Then why isn’t the universe scattered with bits and pieces of your heart. Instead, it's just scattered with bodies of those you’ve left behind.’

The calls from the cyberlife were growing louder and louder.  _ creaTOR… creEATOR… CREATOR… _ until they stopped, and all signs of the cyberlife left with them. The Doctor stood, an arm’s length in front of Adam. She could practically grab him by the shoulder. But he kneeled firmly. The world was falling, and the heat rose higher and higher, until lava burst out from the far end of the cave. When the lava burst, a large quake came, and knocked more earth from above onto the head of Adam, knocking him unconscious. 

_ I’m sorry Adam, we have to go. _

The Doctor dragged Adam back to the Tardis, with seconds left before the lava came rushing past. The Doctor put coordinates into the console and positioned them miles and miles away from the heart of the mountain. She watched the fireworks that were the eruption of Mt. St. Helens.

* * * * *

Adam awoke, pushed himself off of the floor, and walked over to behind the Doctor. ‘How’s the head?’ The Doctor asked.

‘Rough… So, the Tardis? You said this thing can move in time and space.. Right?’

‘Yeah, but what about Amber?’ the Doctor asked

‘Whose Amber? Lovely name though, imagine that Doctor, Amber Liberty, that would be a rout.’

‘Yeah… a rout,’ the Doctor soniced the head of Adam looking for any type of brain damage, nothing came up on the sonic.

_ It’s almost like, she was erased from his memory _ .

‘What about Ryan?’ The Doctor asked while sonicing his head to check for neuron activations. The activations were happening, he was remembering, but the final connections were being blocked before the brain was interpreting their meaning. 

_ Perception filter, right over the brain. Can’t remember anything to do with them. But why him, why can I still remember… _

‘Doctor? Are you okay? Why are you pointing that thing at me?’

‘Yes, Uhh I was just testing to make sure it still works. It does! So, yeah, anywhere in time and space? Anywhere in particular?’


	12. Dawn of the Weeping Angels: Athenians

‘Beautiful isn’t it!’ the Doctor exclaimed running outside of the Tardis. ‘Ancient Rome!’

‘Doctor, sorry to break it to you, but I don’t think we’re in Rome,’ Adam said walking out of the Tardis and peaking around at the buildings. ‘Seems a bit primeval.’

‘Yeah, yeah, right on the nose Adam,’ the Doctor said, ‘damn, why can I never get back to Rome!’

‘So where are we then?’

‘Hmmm…’ The Doctor knelt down and picked up some sand and let it fall through her fingers, ‘Earth… Athens… 428?.... No 427 B.C.’

‘You can tell all that by sand?’

‘I’m good. Did I ever tell you I’m really good,’ the Doctor said, standing, smiling, and shaking the sand off of her hands. ‘Oh god, we need to leave.’

‘Why?’

‘Athens 427 B.C. The height of the Peloponnesian War. This is one of the lowest moments in human history, endless wars and battles being fought for power, land, everything! People born into violence, perpetuated for centuries. It isn’t right. But it’s fact, and there isn’t anything we can do. We cannot interfere. Rule 1, we don’t interfere, not now, not ever.’

‘My first trip, and you’re cutting it short?’

‘Yep! Did you not just here what I said?’’

‘We can’t just, I don’t know, attend a play, or get something to eat?’

‘Nope.’

‘PLEAEEAAEAESEEE, just ten minutes, come on! Athens right? First democracy? This is civilization, I mean real civilization. PLEASE, could we stay, just for a minute...’

‘Fine, but we stick together. No wandering off! We are just gonna check around. See the sights and leave, okay?’

‘Okay!’

They headed west into the heart of the city. The sun was burning their skin, so they stuck to the covers of the colorful trade stands. Most were basic tool stands, along with fruit and bread. There was the occasional wine stand as well. Boys ran down the center of the street, carrying pamphlets and papers in hand sewn bags. 

* * * * *

‘Why are they speaking English?’ Adam asked.

‘Tardis translation matrix, you can understand them, they can understand you, right now we are actually speaking Greek! As I was saying, the Athenians were something. They brought thought, and finances, and brilliant, BRILLIANT works of literature like Plato’s Apology.’

‘So why can’t we stay? There’s so much to learn!’

‘Because they were warriors. Prime example hatred denying progress. All of this art and culture, masked in never-ending war. And looks like we are witnessing that now… ‘ the Doctor finished. They had walked right into one of the popular assembly meetings. (Meetings in which citizens eligible to vote would gather to vote on treaties, proposals, things of that nature.) Large stone columns surrounding an outdoor amphitheatre, where there was stone seating for thousands. And thousands there were, sitting and standing preparing for something. Casual conversation caused Adam’s eyes to glass-over. 

‘See, this is what I’m talking about. Democracy! Pure beauty...’

The man standing in the center of the ampitheatre, pushed a heavy stone onto the ground signifying the beginning of the meeting. 

In a mundane tone, ‘Silence, please, everyone silence… For anyone who has forgotten, I am Ephialtes, and I will be running the assembly… today. The only piece on the agenda is to discuss what to do with the island of Mytilene. The options are open for debate. Do we kill all those who planned the revolt against us, and keep the women and children as slaves for ourselves, or do we only punish the leaders, with knowledge that sentiment of revolt could still be in the hearts of many, many Mytileneans.’ 

Adam patted the back of his head. ‘You know, we could leave… My stomachs hurting, hungry?.’

‘No.. nooo I want to stay now. This is something you should hear,’ she said not looking at Adam.

Ephialtes continued, ‘I received word this morning that the government has surrendered. From our knowledge, the Spartan fleet that was intended to support the Mytileneans hasn’t even left port. Anyone with propositions, or points to be made, please take the floor,’ Ephialtes said motioning to walk toward the stage. 

* * * * *

A handful of individuals stood and made comments on what they thought should be done to these traitors against the state. Some reiterated peace, to maintain the status quo, reinforcing the thought of punishing only those who in charge. Others called for murder of all men, women, and children left on the island. Point by point was made by each individual thoroughly explaining their reasoning behind why they believe certain people should be killed, others enslaved, and others left alone. The Doctor stared at the face of Adam, whose face was growing older with every word spoken.

‘This is torture Doctor, why are we just sitting here. Why don’t we get up there and say something.’

‘This is Athens. The age of reason- to murder those who try to escape from their oppression. If we speak out, what happens to us?’

‘So, what’s your point! You are so found of the 21st century that you think these things aren’t going on there. That leaders aren’t deciding who to kill and who to save?’

‘I never said that. But you lot have the decency to feel shame. This is their culture, their way of life is to battle, and kill, and be prideful of it.’ As the Doctor and Joseph were talking, another man gathered the attention of individuals in the amphitheatre. ‘Let’s go, it’s making me sick too,’ the Doctor said, grabbing Adam by the hand and slowly walking him out.

‘Hello all, you do not know me, I am... new here… My name is Dimiourgos, and I am here to propose a compromise...’ he words echoed deeply between the columns of the ampitheatre. ‘Why? Why do we send our children to their deaths? So many have died in this war against the Spartans, and for what? Our numbers are spread thin across the sea. And our power is weakening...’

The Doctor turned her head back toward Dimiourgos.

‘But I have a solution. I would like to have every individual on Mytilene and develop them into a soldier to fight for Athens so our children no longer have to... You see, I have developed a weapon... forged in the fiery pits of hell… Made from marble and stone, indestructible to the primitive weapons of the Spartans,’ he spoke as his assistant pushed something covered in cloth onto the amphitheatre floor. The Doctor, already stopped in her tracks, ran back to the top of the ampitheatre, where they had been standing before. ‘These soldiers will rain hell upon the Spartans, and help Athens conquer the Mediterranean... and then the planet!’ Cheers echoed louder than his voice.

‘Oh god… what… I mean what….’ the Doctor whispered to herself and Adam.

‘Here. One of my beautiful creations. I call them the  _ Weeping Angels _ !’ Dimiourgos screamed, as his assistant ripped the cloth off of the statue to reveal a  _ Weeping Angel  _ now standing in the center of an amphitheatre, in the middle of Athens, in 427 B.C.


	13. Dawn of the Weeping Angels: Chipping Away

‘Bloody hell!’ Adam screamed pacing back and forth in the Tardis.

‘And if you blink… even for a second. You’re gone.... Transported back in time,’ the Doctor started to cry a little and looked at the switches of the console in front of her, wiggling them slightly. A single tear fell from her face.

The Doctor wiped the tear from her face. ‘So… stop-them, right! Yes, well… so actually, interesting... this angel, this angel wasn’t the same… this one, it moved right in front of us. That man said, “These creatures, they feed off of death. They crave death.” I think, he was being very literal when he said that. I think these angels, feed off of death, and would die if they don’t kill. Which begs the question... ’

‘Ah yes the question...’ Adam stuttered, definitely knowing the question.

* * * * *

A small army was dispatched with Dimiourgos to give safe journey to Mytilene. Two triremes, were filled with soldiers and sent out across the Mediterranean. On board one of those ships, looking out at the sea, Dimiourgos discussed with his assistant.

‘What do you think?’ Dimiourgos asked Sidon, as they peered out of the slits of one of the boats.

‘Beautiful… sir the waves crash, and the blueness of the sea inspires the universe,’ Sidon responded hesitantly.

‘Now… to business.’ 

Behind Dimiourgos, an angel stood still covered in cloth. Dimiourgos pulled the cloth off, and smiled with his entire face. When the Doctor had seen the angel, it was beautiful, alive, ready for the world.

* * * * *

‘C’mon Adam… why do I keep you around if you don’t know the questions?’

‘Because you’d just be talking to yourself?’

‘Rocking it! Okay, why did that angel look so peaceful? Dimiourgos said it craved death, but you saw it… It looked like it wanted life, not death.’ It was true. At the amphitheatre, the angel looked like an angel. It existed in the minds of the people, and it didn’t look to do harm, but exist. It moved gracefully and with passion, not with force. 

‘What do you think that means?’

‘It means we have a chance to save them! What if, the weeping angels never existed, do you know how many lives would be saved? How many useless deaths would be ignored?’ The Doctor’s eyes grew ten times their normal size. Her body looked grand and her words were spoken with vigor.

‘But those people you’d save, you’ve already seen them die? They can’t just come back?’

‘The paradox! Yes it would be one to witness, I don’t know what would happen, but wouldn’t it be great, just amazing?’

‘Well, yes Doctor, but… ’

* * * * *

The angel shook in shackles in the bottom of the ship. The cloth unraveled revealed a weak angel, whose arms were broken, and whose legs were tampered. ‘Chisel,’ Dimiourgos commanded. 

Dimiourgos bent down over the angel while it whimpered in her chains. ‘Chelsie… Chelsie,’ his smile took over his entire face. ‘Everything is going to be just great my dear. I promise...’ Screams of pain fell from the mouth of the angel, and tears fell from her stone eyes.


	14. Dawn of the Weeping Angels: A Fixed Point

‘So what do we do now?’

‘We get to Mytilene before Dimiourgos, get everyone out safe, and save the angel, or change it, help it, do what we have to, to ensure it never becomes a Weeping Angel...’ The Doctor put in the coordinates for Mytilene, pulled back the main lever and pushed it forward. As the Tardis landed, it jerked back and phased red. ‘Oh, no, no noo, what are you doing? Stop it? Stop it?’ The Doctor tried reversing the thrusters, but the Tardis wasn’t responding. It was frozen. 

‘Doctor? What’s going on?’

‘She’s burnt... We aren’t allowed to leave. This moment, whatever it is, has to happen, we are stuck here, stuck at this fixed point.’

‘Fixed point?’

The Doctor walked over to Adam and started talking with her hands. ‘You see, fixed points, are moments in history, moments that must always happen, and can never not happen, or else it would rip a hole in the fabric of the universe, because the paradoxes-anomalies would be too much to handle the whole universe would completely burn out, time would burn and all of life would die.’

The Doctor ran outside of the Tardis and Adam ran behind her. Behind them, the Tardis locked and sealed itself. The Doctor ran back and pulled on the handle, ‘Oi, I wasn’t going to go running off.’

Outside were green lushesh trees and bushes; the midnight sky illuminated the earth floor. The sounds of animals squirming around were masked by whistling coming from a lit pathway. The Doctor and Adam worked their way toward the whistling. Behind a pair of trees, they simultaneously peaked around to see an Athenian soldier in full garb standing at attention in the middle of a pathway. ‘Let me take this, I’m pretty good at the ole- talking thing!’ The Doctor turned out of the trees, and walked directly up to the Athenian soldier. ‘Oi! So...  is this the way I need to go to the thing?’

‘What you seek seems unknown. Speak of your wants,’ the man said standing tall, upright, with his voice clear and his words spoken slow and purposeful.

‘Ahh… well.. you know what everyone else is up to, just heading down that way?’ the Doctor said pointing to behind the man.

‘Why do you choose to follow the blind?’

‘She who sees with her eyes is blind. I follow my heart.’ 

‘The heart can sour the soul. What is it you seek?’ his sword was brought to the ready.

‘Virtue,’ she responded strongly.

The soldier’s tense and aggressive mood went limp. He removed his hand, from the sword, and reached for the hand of the Doctor, ‘If she seeks virtue, I am but your humble servant.’

‘Oh, well, I-don’t-know about that, please,’ she blushed.

‘Pardon my manners, what is it you are named?’

‘The Doctor!’

‘Oh, Doctor? I actually have something I would like to show a Doctor, there’s been something weird on my-’

‘No, no, not that kind of Doctor! And your name good friend?’

‘Socrates...’


	15. Dawn of the Weeping Angels: An Allegory

‘Dimiourgos arrived just days ago, he’s slowly been turning every man, woman, and child on this island into his angels,’ Socrates spoke. They had lit a fire beside the path, and Adam had joined them around it.

‘And you, you stand guard as he does it?’ the Doctor asked.

‘I wish not to fight myself, so if what he says is true, then this swift end to the wars will be welcomed.’

‘Why must the killing even take place? Why can there not be peace?’

Socrates pondered the question. It was a question he himself had asked many times, and always came to the same conclusion, ‘Because we want, and those who owe- choose not to give. So we must take.’

‘You are blind, Socrates, why do you want? What do you want? What is it you seek? Goods, money, whores? And once you have those things, you will just want more, and more, and more. There isn’t an end, you will want to continue to want and want and never stop wanting.’

‘And you think that is unwise?’

‘It’s not the point. It really isn’t the point of all this life.’

‘The gods give us our purpose.’

‘Look I’m not telling you to abandon all you believe, but if you don’t question why you are doing something, then why do it?’

Socrates sat with those words a moment, ‘Your thoughts are sound… Continue.’

‘Imagine, for a moment, that you have lived in a cave, all your life, facing away from the entrance, that the only thing you’ve ever seen are the shadows of people as they walk by. What would you think of the world- How your view of the world be so incomplete because you lack experience.’

‘And you say, we live like this? We, even us sitting here, don’t fully see?’

‘Yes… there is so, so much to think about and believe, and all you have to do, is just think. And no one can try you for simply thinking.’

Adam leaned over to the Doctor and whispered into her ear, ‘Doctor… did you just invent the-?’

‘Shhhh… leave me alone, I get carried away sometimes.’

‘So!’ Socrates began, ‘You say, we must think, so I assume you believe then that Dimiourgos is to be stopped.’

‘If we don’t stop him, every human on this planet will be dead in days.’

‘Well you’ve certainly come at the right time… Dimiourgos plans on sending the first batch of angels to Sparta in early morning!’

‘Socrates, that boat cannot reach those shores.’

‘So what is it you suppose?’


	16. Dawn of the Weeping Angels: The Rift

Socrates made his way to the port where the angels were being loaded onto the ship. Socrates watched as families were being dragged on board the ship one by one, and the screams grew louder and louder until a deafening silence eclipsed the screams. Socrates had been sent by the Doctor to save as many people as possible.

The Doctor made her way back to the Tardis, ‘Hey sexy… you know I can’t get anywhere, so please… Please just let me in!’ The doors unlocked, and the Doctor pushed them open with ease. ‘Beautiful!’ She made her way underneath the console, and started to rip out tubes and wires. ‘I’m sorry dear, but this is going to hurt!’

Adam finally made his way into the Tardis, ‘Doctor, what are you doing?’

‘Ohh you wouldn’t approve, just thought to keep it a secret!’

‘Doctor!’

‘Socrates said all of the people were being transformed on that ship, if we can destroy the ship, then we could destroy the angels! But the bloody Tardis doesn’t want to move, so the best alternative at the moment is to move the ship!’

‘Move the ship?!’

‘Not physically, but in space, send the angels to the end of time, and let them get destroyed by the emptiness and nothingness of space!’

‘You’d be killing them Doctor!’

‘But don’t you see, if they never existed, then they can’t hurt, they can’t kill!’

‘There has to be another way!’

‘There isn’t! There isn’t. This is it. I either destroy them now, or I let them live, and they will destroy, and kill… kill so much...’

‘How are you going to do it if you can’t move the Tardis?’

‘I can’t move the Tardis but I can still use the black hole energy to open a rift in space right on top of the ship, and send all of the angels to the end of time.’

‘Doctor!’

‘Here goes nothing!’ She pushed two wires together, and the Tardis began to shake and spark, and explode.

* * * * *

Socrates watched as a rift opened above the ship, and pulled the boat and the weeping angels inside of it. On the ship stood Dimiourgos. He looked down and spotted Socrates holding a child. He screamed down to Socrates, ‘Tell the Doctor, I will be back!’ His voice travelled as he and his ship were sucked up into the rift, which closed behind him.

* * * * *

The Tardis, phased from crimson red back to the ambient blue. ‘Is it over?’ asked Adam.

‘I think so… ’ the Doctor said.

‘So what will happen to the angels?’

‘I’m… not sure...’

* * * * *

Outside of the Tardis, the Doctor, Adam and Socrates met for the last time.

‘You were only able to save one?’ the Doctor asked.

‘Yes, his family was taken moments before the rift opened, they… they didn’t make it,’ Socrates held the baby in his arms, which was cuddled by a blanket.

‘Does he have a name?’

‘There is a name written on the inside of the blanket. It says… Plato.’

‘Well, we got quite lucky there,’ the Doctor nudged the arm of Adam, ‘You look after that boy now, you promise me!’

‘I promise you, to luna and back.’ Socrates said making the sign of the cross over his heart.

‘So, what will be made of the angels?’

‘I analyzed the rift, they were sent through,’ the Doctor started, ‘Many of them were still in the process of transforming into angels.’

‘Doctor?’ Adam asked.

‘There wasn’t another way… there never was. Either save the earth, or create the Weeping Angels.’ 

‘Doctor?’

‘Their… their DNA must have been transfused with the time vortex.’

‘Meaning?’ Adam and Socrates both asked.

‘I just created the Weeping Angels...’

* * * * *

In the Tardis, the Doctor sulked over her console. Reviewing the numbers over and over and over again. ‘How could I have been so BLIND!’ ‘HOWW!!’ The Doctor punched and smashed the console bits back and forth.

‘You were angry… you wanted to save the ones you lost, that’s what everyone wishes they could do, and you had a chance to. Every human on earth wishes they could bring their loved ones back from the dead, but we can’t. We just can’t.’ Adam spoke softly, trying to calm down the Doctor.

‘Well I can! I am a TIME-LORD, I am not a human. I can change time, I can do whatever the hell I WANT!’

‘What is the point of life, Doctor, if you can control who lives or dies. You are not a god!’

‘Yes I am!’ The two were standing face to face, infuriating each other with every growing statement.

‘Take me home… ’ Adam said to the Doctor. ‘Now.’


End file.
